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- MacGraPhoto Bundle: Grab 7 Graphics Apps for Cheap
It can’t beat the recent free Mac Heist giveaway (what could?), but a new Mac software bundle does offer a lot of good applications for a steeply discounted price. The somewhat awkwardly named MacGraPhoto bundle provides seven graphics applications for the same amount that one alone would normally set you back, $39.99.The seven apps are all new to me, but they seem to have garnered favorable reviews and even some official accolades from Apple itself. They also cover quite a range, meaning that no two really duplicate the functions or features of the others. Here’s a brief rundown of the apps you get in the bundle.
- GraphicConverter – Does what it says. You can open basically any image file, and then save it as another. You can also do some light editing, organize your photos, run a slide show, and automate your image processing to make working with large batches of files easier.
- Picturesque – Provides a lot of easy, 1-click or simplified image enhancement abilities. Great for those who don’t have the patience or time to learn more advanced programs like Photoshop, or who want really quick turnaround times for time sensitive activities like blogging.
- ImageFramer – Add frames to your pictures. A little weird, in my opinion, but if you’re looking for something different for your photos, this could be it.
- Funtastic Photos – Photo correction and enhancement which automatically preserves your original. Also packs a number of sharing features, and a rich print layout system.
- Graphic Designer Toolbox – Combine building blocks to create crazy new graphic effects and images. You use the unique interface to marry various elements together in a non-destructive process that is both deceptively simple and incredibly deep. Weird but cool.
- DrawIt – A vector image editor and drawing app. Tons of shapes are included in the default set, and there’s support for user-created ones, too. A nice little app that will have you creating Mac-friendly icons and more with relative ease.
- HoudahGeo – Add geolocation data to your photos. HoudahGeo lets you specify information like latitude, longitude, altitude and viewing angle in an image file’s EXIF, XMP or IPTC tags.
All of the apps included in MacGraPhoto have apparently been Apple Staff Picks except for Graphic Designer Toolbox, which won a Think Different award for graphic image editors. At the very least, you’ll probably shave a few steps off of your current process for doing light image editing by picking up the bundle. Plus, if you tell three people about the deal and they buy the pack as a result, the price of your purchase is refunded and you get it free. The bundle pricing expires in a little over five days.
Переслать - Apple Sues "Knock-Off" Power Adapter Manufacturer
InformationWeek reports that a third-party MacBook power adapter manufacturer is being sued by Apple for allegedly violating one of its patent designs.
On Monday, Apple filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Media Solutions Holdings in federal district court in California. Apple says that the company is using various different websites and business entities to sell what they describe as a ‘knock-off’ MacBook power adapter. “Through various Web sites and otherwise,” Apple says in the suit, “…the Defendants market these knock-off power adapters for use with Apple portable computers, such as the MacBook.”
The websites include laptopsforless.com, laptopacadapter.com and ereplacements.com. Apple says these sites sell “various consumer electronic accessories at retail,” and the naughty power adapter is amongst the products they sell.
The other named defendents also include companies eReplacements and Laptops For Less.
Apple also adds in the claim that, "The Defendants’ infringing conduct has damaged Apple and inflicted irreparable harm.” They don’t elaborate on the monetary value of that “harm” but they do seek an injunction against the defendants that stops them selling their knock-off adapters. For now, the offending power adapters have been removed from sale from the websites listed in the suit (but although they can no longer be ordered, they are still listed on those sites).
The suit includes line-drawing illustrations comparing designs from Apple's power adapter patent with photographs of the power adapter sold by the defendants. The patent was awarded to Apple by the United States Patents and Trademarks Office over six years ago, in August 2003.
InformationWeek notes that Apple is not accustomed to being the Plaintiff in patent disputes; of the 15 patent lawsuits filed during the second half of this year, Apple has been the defendant in every case but this one. At an average litigation cost of $4.5 million (through trial), that's a tremendous expense created — for the most part — by what InformationWeek calls "non-practicing entities" but what the rest of us call Patent Trolls.
Переслать - iPhone's Curvy Competition & Devious Droids
The iPhone has been our Golden Child for over two years and we're much accustomed to reading how it's setting this record, or breaking that record, or changing "the game" in some revolutionary way. I'm not complaining in the slightest — credit where credit is due — but by now all the plaudits have blended into a gentle, harmonious, background hum.
So, it's a bit disjointing when a few errant notes are played out of tune. If you've managed to survive this disaster of a metaphor this far, you know I'm talking about Bad News. A few numbers-heavy reports this week present us with news that, if not entirely bad, is at least disappointing…
According to Electronista, NPD Group reported this week that the Blackberry Curve — of all things! — kept the iPhone 3GS from the title of first place handset in this summer's smartphone handset sales in Northern America. Verizon's "Buy One Get One Free" deal is said to have been the culprit; it not only offered two handsets for the price of one but also lowered the average selling price of a 'feature phone' handset from the same period the previous year ($88 down to $85). The iPhone 3GS and the older 3G took second and third spots respectively, which is not too shabby considering they were only beaten-out on price.
Devious Droids
More recently, Verizon's wily ways have proven (again!) to be bad news for Apple's smartphone. In its BrandIndex report last week, YouGov announced that Motorola's Droid had a loyalty score of 29.3 among younger men, easily beating the iPhone's score of 22. Why is Verizon to blame for Motorola's success? YouGov say that loyalty scores for Motorola remain largely unchanged, so they attribute the success of the Droid to Verizon's cunning ad campaign that has very openly criticised AT&T's spotty 3G coverage and poured scorn on the iPhone, decrying its closed software platform, low-resolution camera and lack of multitasking ability.
Might not sound so bad, but consider that just prior to Verizon’s ad campaign, the iPhone's loyalty score was running at a high of 48.1! It seems obvious that Verizon's advertising was hugely effective; irrespective of whether or not the Droid is a superior platform, Verizon managed to significantly influence customer perception.
Hungry Hungry Handsets
It's not all bad news, not really; according to a recent study conducted by AdMob and reported by Hardmac, the iPhone has captured 50 percent of the world's 3G network bandwidth. Other mobile OS's are trailing far behind it seems, with Symbian taking second place with 25 percent share. Android takes third place with 11 percent and RIM and Windows Mobile fail to make double digits.
I said it's not all bad news, but the carriers might disagree with me. They’re suffering at the hands of smartphone-wielding customers and their bandwidth-hungry handsets. AT&T has been gradually upgrading its 3G network to try to cope with the added strain of millions of data-hungry mobile devices but it's an expensive upgrade that will take years to complete. But, still — nice to know we iPhone users are being a nuisance and shaking things up a bit for The Man!
Переслать - Live Music Comes to iTunes
It's such an obvious idea it's amazing it didn't happen sooner. Wired reports that Apple has teamed up with promoter Live Nation to bring Live music to its iTunes Store.
The reason for the delay is the tremendous difficulty getting all the required signatures on all the dotted lines. For each live performance to be made available to consumers, the performers, their management companies, record labels, venue management, promoters and countless others must have forged some sort of agreement deemed of value to them all. That's far from easy, but it helps if you happen to own the venues; Wired's Eliot Van Buskirk says that Apple and Live Nation are the owners of the more than 80 venues featured in the collection of live shows.
While Apple has made live performances available in the iTunes Store in the past, they was never marshaled together into one single place and made so easily searchable. As you'd expect, it's possible to search the Live music by genre and artist, but it's also possible to search by venue. Flagship Apple Stores are often the venues for intimate live shows and they’re now just a click away; Montreal, Sydney, London and New York's SOHO stores are just a few of the locations in the list. (The mind boggles at the legal wrangling that must have taken place to clear the worldwide rights for those performances…)
A section is also reserved for highlighting iPhone apps that also deliver, or are connected with, Live music.
The content isn't just reserved for music, either. Videos of Live performances are also available, and as you probably guessed already, do cost a bit more than music alone. Concert videos start at $8 and go as high as $13 while straight audio shows are usually in the $8 range.
I’d have thought this universally good news for music fans, though John Paczkowski, in his Digital Daily column for The Wall Street Journal, writes (somewhat sarcastically);
This year, Live Nation, the world's largest concert promoter, will put on some 22,000 live shows – each one attended by carping about the asinine "convenience" and "courtesy" charges the company likes to tack on to ticket purchases. Funny, isn't it, how quickly a $28 show can become a $50 one?
So, in light of the news of Live Nation's content partnership with Apple, and with tongue firmly in cheek, Paczkowski asks, "Does this mean we can expect a Live Nation 'iTunes Convenience Fee'?"
I haven't had a lot of luck with "Live" recordings of my favorite artists. The occasional missed note, a bit of microphone feedback or occasional volume dropouts are to be expected in a live setting and if I'm standing shoulder-to-shoulder with other fans, y'know, there in person, I'll forgive every imperfection.
Having those imperfections reproduced on my iPod or desktop speakers, though…it just doesn't seem right. I barely listen to the few live albums I own. I can’t imagine wanting to spend real money on any more.
What do you think? Am I in a minority? Should I just shut up and go back to my gramophone? Is iTunes Live Music gonna be claiming your hard-earned green?
Переслать - (Shazam)RED Makes the App Store a Slightly Kinder Place
The (RED) movement allows companies to give a little back while also selling their products, by branding versions of their goods with the (RED) logo, name, and color. In exchange, a portion of the price of said products is donated to the fight against HIV and AIDS in Africa. Apple is on board with the program, with (RED) iPods, and now one of its iPhone developers, Shazam, has thrown its weight behind the cause, too.Shazam is the first mobile app to endorse the program. (Shazam)RED is available on the App Store now for $4.99, which is the same price that Shazam Encore retails for.
The only difference between the two is that when you purchase (Shazam)RED, 20 percent of the purchase price of the app, or a little less than $1, will be “contributed to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria,” with (RED) funds specifically going towards the fight against HIV and AIDS. Also, in addition to the features included in Shazam Encore, you get access to (RED) news and content via an icon on the bottom menu bar that loads (BLOG) RED in a built-in browser.
In an interview with TMCnet.com, Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher highlighted the success of the (RED) program, and the potential reach of (Shazam)RED given the iPhone’s massive user base. With over 10 million people owning either an iPhone or an iPod touch worldwide, the potential boon for projects like (RED) is astronomical. And the relationship is mutually beneficial, since developers get access to the marketing value inherent in the (RED) brand.
In case you aren’t familiar with the new features of Shazam Encore, which is the paid version of the wildly popular music identification app Shazam, it allows you to find recommendations for your music tags, search for songs, albums, and artists, and see charts of the most-tagged music. You can also sync your tags with the web-based Shazam interface and share them via Facebook and Twitter. Finally, you can use car mode to identify playing on the radio while you’re driving.
If you were planning on paying for Shazam Encore anyway, there’s no real reason not to opt for (Shazam)RED (iTunes link) instead, unless you’re worried about future updates. I’m sure that Shazam will update this product for at least as long as they do Encore, though, because I can’t imagine much additional effort or expense would be required, if any, to do so.
Переслать - Apple Seeks to Shut Down Psystar for Good With Permanent Injunction
It’s been a long, drawn out legal battle, but Apple is clearly winning by almost all accounts, and it just filed for a motion that could end Psystar’s party permanently. On Monday, the company filed a claim for a permanent judgment against Psystar that would stop the clone maker from selling any products at all, under the U.S. Copyright Act and the DCMA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act).In other words, if you desperately want that Open(7), you’d better place an order ASAP, because you might never get a chance again once the decision comes down. The complaint, is based on the premise that Psystar is now “trafficking in circumvention devices,” which is causing “unquantifiable” harm to Apple’s image.
The new motion specifically targets Psystar’s recently released software product, Rebel EFI, which bypasses the built-in prevention measures that limit the installation of OS X 10.6 to Apple-built hardware only. Using Rebel EFI, customers can supposedly install OS X on any Intel-based system, although the compatibility of individual components will vary widely.
Up till now, Apple has succeeded in dealing serious blows to Psystar, including winning a summary judgment, but it hasn’t managed to get a ruling that would shut down the company’s operation for good. The clone maker can continue doing business even if it keeps having to pay damages, since it can declare bankruptcy and reform as long as it can raise enough operating capital to stay afloat…hence the attempt by Apple to put an end to the expensive cycle.
Apple SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller puts it succinctly in an affidavit for the latest claim:
So long as Psystar continues these practices, the harm to Apple and its brand will continue. I believe Apple should not be required to file a new lawsuit to stop Psystar from infringing Apple’s intellectual property each time Apple releases a new version of Mac OS X. Requiring Apple to file multiple lawsuits to stop the same infringing conduct would be unfair, expensive, and a waste of the Court’s and the parties’ resources.
Apple also recently tried to shut down Atom support in OS X, which would seriously derail the efforts of at-home netbook hacking, so it looks like Cupertino is just generally trying to shut down any and all efforts to wrestle control of the operating system from its iron grip.
The next hearing is scheduled for December 14, and the official trial will start in January 2010. Psystar doesn’t look to be in good shape as it is, but if Apple manages to get this permanent injunction, all hope is lost for the hackintosh purveyor.
Переслать - iPhone Coming to Tesco Supermarket in the UK, Virgin in Canada
If you wanted to buy the iPhone, once upon a time you had to get it direct from Apple or from the Mac maker’s partner network providers. Nowadays, there are more and more places you can pick one up, including, soon enough, at the supermarket while you restock the bread and milk in the UK. In Canada, a budget provider of UK origin will soon join everyone else as an iPhone carrier, too.UK retailer Tesco will offer the device for use on the O2 network exclusively, and it will be selling both the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS. Tesco Mobile, Tesco’s cell phone subsidiary, will begin offering the device both in store and online via Tesco Direct. Tesco Mobile has its own branding and pricing structures, but is actually a joint venture between the retail giant and O2, and uses O2’s network.
As for a release timeline, a Tesco spokesperson says the store plans on stocking the device “in time for Christmas,” which is fast approaching. The peak of the holiday shopping season in the U.S. is this Friday, widely known as “Black Friday.” Thanks to a globalized economy and the increased use of international online retail, Black Friday deals can now be found in many other countries, too.
Tesco hasn’t revealed its pricing for the iPhone yet, but maintains that it will be “competitive.” I’m beginning to just assume that when service providers use that word they really just mean it’ll be priced exactly the same as it is with every other company that offers it. That’s certainly been the case here in Canada.
Both Bell and Telus began offering the iPhone in addition to the first carrier Rogers/Fido, within the last month. Both the new providers built out new GSM networks to be able to provide the device, since their existing networks were CDMA, which Apple has recently reminded us is something it doesn’t do. Virgin Mobile just announced it would begin offering the iPhone 3G and 3GS “in the coming months.”
If you’re thinking that having four or five providers all offering the same high demand device would lead to increased competition and better deals for consumers, you’d be wrong. As is always the case in the rigidly controlled and regulated Canadian mobile communications industry, all providers are offering pretty much exactly the same deal, and none wants to budge to try to sway fence-sitting customers one way or the other. The problem is, the pie is big enough that each is more or less happy with its share of the pie, and so we exist in a consumer-screwing stasis.
I’m all for having the ability to choose between carriers, which is better than being stuck with one, as people are in the U.S., but if that’s the only outcome of increased iPhone availability, I’m not sure I care that much.
Переслать
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